(Mar
10)- I did say I was getting
tired of reading optimistic
reports about the future of Bagnoli, but this one
looks good. For the first time in a century, the town of
Bagnoli is no longer totally separated from the sea by
the steel-mill and cement factory. Those were torn down
some years ago, but now even the physical wall, although
only 50 yards of it—slab after slab of towering grime
along via Nuova
Bagnoli—has been breached as work continues on
the silvery space-ship-looking Portal to the park
(photo, right), a large square that should be finished
soon. To be a wet blanket about it, 50 years is nothing.
I have just driven around the entire old steel-mill
premises and there are still miles of wall to go. The
area is still a dreary wasteland of post-industrialism.
I have no predictions. I read of the park, the sports
fields and fountains, the gym and the museum of Industrial
Archaeology, etc. They say 2013. In terms of local
construction and track record for these projects, that
is right around the corner. (photo credit: NewFotoSud) (See items for Mar 13 & 30,
below, and this update.)(Mar
11) -
Mauro Dimitri, head of the World Federation of Urology,
has announced the creation of the "super-tomato,"
officially called the "Maxantia" (pending registration
of the name). It is the work of the Biomolecular
Institute at the Naples National Research Center. The
announcement stresses that the Manxtia is not a
genetically modified product, but rather a blend of two
existing varieties: the San Marzano, well-known for its
anti-inflammatory properties, and the Black Tomato, a
purple fruit high in anti-oxidants. According to Dmitri,
the Maxantia "...has nutritional characteristics ideally
suited for preventing disease...[and has]...anti-oxidant
activity superior to all other tomato hybrids...[making
it]...suitable for defending against prostate cancer and
reducing the risks of many other diseases in which
oxidative stress and...free radicals play a role. These
include cardiovascular disease, arthritis, Parkinson's
Disease and osteoporosis..." Campania regional
authorities are now encouraging local pizza makers to
use the Maxantia as an alternative to regular tomatoes.

The International Continental
Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) has announced a
plan to begin exploring the waters off the Campi Flegrei
in the bay of Naples starting in April-May. From ICDP
literature:

The role of deep
drilling at this area is...crucial. It could give a
fundamental, precise insight into the shallow
substructure, the geometry and character of the
geothermal systems and their role in the unrest
episodes...as well as to explain magma chemistry and
the mechanisms of magma-water interaction...Since
Campi Flegrei is a typical example of collapse
caldera, the inference about its substructure,
thermal state, magma chamber and geothermal system
will allow a considerable scientific step towards
the understanding of one of the most peculiar and
potentially catastrophic volcanic areas of the
World.

Drilling will employ the
most modern drilling equipment, the Innovarig (photo),
designed by GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences
in Potsdam, Germany and built by Herrenknecht Vertical
and H. Angers’ Sons. The first work will be off the
premises of the old steel mill in Bagnoli and will bore
down to 500 meters. Later exploration will branch out
onto the center of the Gulf of Pozzuoli and reach a
depth of 4 km.(Mar
13) -
Displays of "industrial archaeology" exist all
over the western world, converted "rust belts," now
museums where we revisit the pre-plastic age when we
mined minerals and made steel. In Sardinia, for example,
there is the “Geo-mining Historical and Environmental
Park” to "...recover and maintain the entire set of
mining infrastructures for environmental, scientific,
educational, cultural and tourist purposes." (See this
link.) In Naples, a similar project is underway with the
steel industry on the premises of what used to be the
Italsider steel mill in Bagnoli (see item at the top of
this page) [The area under discussion is in blue in this
image.] It was an industrial plant that for a century
was as solid in the west as Vesuvius was in the east;
they were both big and belched smoke and, at least in
human terms, Italsider, too, seemed anchored in the
earth and there to stay. The archives of the former Ilva
steel mill (later called Italsider) are now hosting an
exhibit entitled La
memoria d'acciaio [Remembering Steel] on the
premises of the ex-mill. It is a photographic and
industrial artifact museum, plus documentation that
contains a few surprises, such as the one that has
astounded everyone: When the original decision was made
(at the turn of the 19th-to-20th century to build a
steel mill in Naples, it was planned for the eastern part of
town, in what was already the center of early industry.
They changed the plan and put it in the west, thus
defacing (ah, the perfect vision of hindsight!) the Bay
of Pozzuoli, what was once one of the most scenic bays
on the planet. (back ^)(Mar
17)
- The Italian Merchant Marine Academy opened
in November of 2005 in Genoa. Before that time, many of
the officers aboard Italian merchant vessels had
received training elsewhere or, themselves, were
foreigners. It does seem fitting that Genoa, the
birthplace of Columbus, should have been chosen to fill
this enormous gap in Italian maritime activity. Now, the
Academy has opened a second campus in Torre del Greco, a
suburb of Naples, an area that handles 40% of Italian
merchant shipping. The academy is free to students, and
the new facility near Naples seemed perfect since the
area has always had a strong tradition of young men
"shipping out." Strange thing, however—of the 20
students who will start courses in Torre del Greco in
the autumn, none comes from Naples or, indeed, anywhere
in the Campania region. Most are from Sicily, with a few
from Puglia, Tuscany, Sardinia, and even Liguria (the
regional capital of which is Genoa). But none from
Naples.(Mar
20) - "Waiter, we’ve
been waiting for 2,000 years! Is our table ready,
yet?" Yes, finally! Vetutius Placidus’
thermopolium in Pompeii has been totally restored and
will open tomorrow for a sneak preview for the 300 lucky
persons who got their email reservations in the other
day when the announcement was made. In ancient
Rome, a thermopolium
(from thermo=heat)
was a restaurant, probably more like a fast-food place,
a commercial establishment where you could buy hot food,
either to eat on the premises or take with you.
Typically, they had a small room with a masonry counter
in front for the food. Some would have decorative
frescoes or shrines to Mercury and Dionysus, the gods of
commerce and wine, respectively. As far as I can tell,
you won’t get anything to eat at Placidus' grand
reopening except for a small sweet pastry “inspired by
ancient Roman cuisine." The establishment will re-reopen
with expanded hours and, so they say, other menu items
in a few weeks. [See related
item on Roman fast-food.] (photo: Daniele Florio)(Mar
23) -
“Agricultural archaeology” is a relatively new
term—at least to me. It means the study of crops that
have been typical of an area through the ages in order
(1) to better understand the history and culture of the
area, and (2) to help sustain biodiversity. In the local
area, for example, it is of interest to us to know what
the Romans of Pompeii ate. In some cases, they ate the
same things that modern residents of the area eat—the lunga di Sarno, for
example, a hazel nut characteristic of the areas around
Vesuvius for at least 2,000 years; also, Cato and
Columella both spoke of the cabbages and onions of
Pompeii. A convention has just been signed in the
presence of the president of the Campania region,
Bassolino, and the regional clerk for agriculture, that
will protect the lunga
di Sarno as well as other species of
agricultural crops typical of the area. “Protect,” here,
includes encouraging local farmers not to desert
traditional crops.(Mar
23) -
Susana, Lady Walton, passed away on March 21,
2010, aged 83, at La Mortella,
the garden paradise she created on the island of Ischia
many years ago. She created, as she said, "a garden for
an artist," and then, later, through the creation of the
William Walton Foundation, dedicated the premises to the
memory and music of her husband, William Walton. Lady
Walton was energetic and gracious and will be remembered
fondly by all who ever came in contact with her. Her
ashes will rest near those of her husband in the Upper
Garden, the highest point of La Mortella. Rest in peace. (Mar
30)
Bizarre &/or Brief:—The
youngest grandmother in Europe is a Neapolitan. She is
29 years old.
—Someone in the papers is concerned about the
weed garden growing on the roof of the Royal Palace.
Seeds blow in and take root and every year at this time
the RP starts looking like some sort of Gaelic thatched
house.
—In Bagnoli, money has finally been appropriated
to convert whatever that ex-steel mill building was
(photo, right) into the long-awaited Industrial Museum;
also, there is money for an aquarium.
—Rain water is leaking into the famous Catacombs
of San Gennaro, putting a number of precious paleo-Christian art works at
risk.